


Own Our Hearts

by Anonymous



Series: S-Anon MCYT Dump [4]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angels Demons Humans and Sword Spirits yeah, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad and Skeppy are idiots, Can be read platonically or romantically i don't care, DSMP characters babey, Enemies to Married, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No real names because ew, OG Sword Spirit, Vurb's only there for a bit, minecraft world, no beta we die like tommyinnit, sword spirit au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:36:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29932158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: “Now how did a God-fearing, goody-two shoes like you end up with the blade of a demon?”That was the question that started it all, really. It had brought the realization that his actions and plans weren’t always as secret as he had assumed them to be. When Vurb uttered those words to him, Skeppy all but stopped in his tracks and turned to face the man, a slightly shocked look on his face as the aforementioned blade sat loyally in his hand.Skeppy was cursed.
Relationships: Zak Ahmed & Darryl Noveschosch, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Series: S-Anon MCYT Dump [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147232
Comments: 11
Kudos: 93
Collections: Anonymous





	Own Our Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god this ended up so goddamn long help it started as something I was like "okay it'll be like 3k because my attention span is ass" AND THEN BOOM 8.7K WORDS... OH
> 
> This is why I haven't been updating Our Bonds Broken(?) whoops this also took way longer than I thought it would. But I made up so much shit for this AU my brain hurts! So yeah I guess. This is a thing now.
> 
> I apologize if this doesn't make any sense in the end my brain is soup now

“Now how did a God-fearing, goody-two shoes like you end up with the blade of a demon?”

That was the question that started it all, really. It had brought the realization that his actions and plans weren’t always as secret as he had assumed them to be. When Vurb uttered those words to him, Skeppy all but stopped in his tracks and turned to face the man, a slightly shocked look on his face as the aforementioned blade sat loyally in his hand.

“You can tell? Tell it’s a demon’s blade, I mean?” Skeppy asked, genuinely surprised. Humans weren’t able to tell things like that, were they? Or, at least, they weren’t supposed to. Not by just a glance at the blade.

“Of course I can, dude.” Vurb deadpanned, gesturing to the sword. “Anyone in the range of five miles can take a look at that thing and come to the conclusion its affinity is to the darker side. Look at its design! It just feels evil, too. No one would ever look at that blade and think the angels crafted it for their own use. That’s a devil’s blade through and through.”

Oh. Right. The design was what gave it away, of course. Skeppy had embarrassingly forgotten about that fact. Still, the new information had proven his earlier thoughts. He held up the sword for better viewing.

“I’m not God-fearing, by the way. I just rather stay in the good graces of the light.” He paused, eyes raking over the blade for a moment. “The sword is dubbed Novaakun, if I remember right. I never understood why people would just name their swords like that. It sounds ridiculous.”

“It sounds like a demon’s name.” Vurb supplied helpfully. “You never answered my first question, by the way. Why do you have a demon’s blade? And what are you even going to do with it, anyways?”

Skeppy paused, weighing his options. A half-truth could work here. “I found it. Intentionally, obviously, but I still found it. I’ve been meaning to go on a quest to do something for awhile now, and I think I can finally do it with the help of this sword. But I’m going alone, before you ask. This is something I have to do myself.”

Vurb frowned, tilting his head with a look of concern. “Why do you sound so serious? Are you doing alright, Skep?”

Skeppy nodded, hating that he had to lie to his friend. “I’m alright. It’s just about things I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. It’s just… too personal for me to feel comfortable talking about, if that’s okay. But I will be gone for awhile.”

Vurb sighed, crossing his arms. “Alright, I won’t push. Just… if you’re going to be gone for awhile, can you at least promise that you’ll come back home safely? I don’t want you going off on some great adventure and never coming back, leaving us Invaded residents to wonder what became of you.”

_ I’ll come back if this works…  _ “I promise.”

Once Vurb walked off, he dropped his strained smile and sighed, raising the sword again and staring directly at the top of the hilt. He made a disapproving face. “I know you’re in there. You can come out now, the human is gone. I’m your master now. You might as well introduce yourself.”

A beat of silence passed, before a black light sparkled from the held hilt and a form popped forth from the blade. A humanoid figure cloaked in darkness stared back at him, with large, deep red horns, white, glowing eyes, and a scowl with fangs bared. “You weren't supposed to know I was there. You must not be human yourself, then. You reek of the angels, are you one of them? What are you going to do with me, then?”

Skeppy rolled his eyes, placing the sword back in its sheath that lay draped across his back. “I am no angel. I may walk in their path of light, because I think it would benefit me the most, but I have no place among their ranks. Not that I really want it.”

The figure growled. “Yet you reek of them. I don’t believe you. You’re lying to me.”

Skeppy frowned. “Well that’s no way to talk to your master, is it?” He sneered. “The spirit of the sword is owned by the same man or alien that wields the blade. You have no choice but to serve me while I have Novaakun claimed as mine.”

The figure snarled in frustration, but yielded. “Of course,  _ master. _ ”

Skeppy nodded. “Good. Glad we’re on the same page. We don’t want a sword spirit being caught disobeying the rules set by the original spirit of the blade, would we?” He took a breath, pondering. “The sword you belong to has its name, what do you go by?”

Already, the spirit’s expression morphed into one of confusion. “You would ask me for a name? Not make one up for me?”

Skeppy frowned. “Is that what people do to the spirits of their swords? That’s…” His frown deepened. “That’s awfully rude. Sword spirits are reduced to servants because of their nature, but it’s not rocket science to figure out you guys have a lot more intelligence to just be thought of only as a tool. And yet they would even go as far as to strip you of the basic right to name yourself?”

The spirit was silent, listening to Skeppy’s little speech with thoughtfulness in its eyes. Skeppy continued on.

“Not with me. That isn’t right, no matter what sides we belong to. Everyone deserves to choose who they are on the surface level. Even sword spirits. So yes, I’m asking you your name. Not a name someone else gave you, unless you decided that you liked that name. Your name. What is it?”

“...Bad.” The spirit answered finally, still regarding Skeppy with wariness. “My name is Bad.”

_ Something about this doesn’t sit right…  _ “Alright then, Bad. My name is Skeppy, since we’re exchanging names. You’re going to be coming along with me on a quest. It’s important, so if I catch you at all trying to hinder my journey then we are going to have some problems. Are we clear?”

“I don’t understand you.” Bad replied instead. “You are so harsh with your words to scare me into being compliant, but at the same time you have kindness left in your heart for beings like me, who receive none normally. You reek of angels, but you don’t talk like any I’ve ever met. What are you?”

Skeppy froze, ears taking in the spirit’s analytic speech. He shook his head. “It’s rude to label your master in such ways. I am me. That’s all you need to know.”

Bad said nothing more, opting to trail slightly behind Skeppy as the two walked away from the Invaded social hub, off in whatever direction the armed boy was set on traveling for his quest. Though Skeppy could feel the white eyes of the spirit boring into his back, staring, wondering. It didn’t matter. The sword and its spirit were not his friend.

He wondered if the being could see the tiny, sharp crystals that poked his shirt up from being flat on his back.

* * *

The first few days and nights passed without much of an issue- Skeppy would wield Novaakun to defend himself as he traveled, only really running into minor problems with wildlife across the biomes he trekked. Of course, there were a multitude of monsters at night, but he wasn’t stupid. Skeppy made sure to keep enough portable light on him to make a safe enough area to stop and rest each night, if only to rest his weary legs. Skeppy never really needed much sleep for as long as he could remember- though if it was due to some strange mutation, or just a strange case of insomnia was up for debate by his friends.

Another thing that was a strange constant was how much time the sword spirit accompanying him would spend hovering along behind him, instead of just going back to rest within his sword. Skeppy didn’t really understand Bad at all- well, he said that, told himself that, but it wasn’t necessarily true. He just chose not to think about it too hard.

This was where they were at now- the moon hung full in the sky as he and the spirit sat resting around a small fire he had gotten to start. There was a tent for Skeppy, small and barely used for the most part, but it was fit for only one. Bad would usually return into the hilt of Novaakun whenever Skeppy retreated into the shelter. But, if Skeppy was outside, or anywhere else really, Bad would stay visible and in physical form, something most sword spirits wouldn’t do. The sword they were bound to way there home- their one true home, and it wasn’t necessary for the most part to be out and about. Humans weren’t supposed to know that the swords they owned had life within them, although there were a few rule-breakers that didn’t listen to this. Not that it mattered too much anyways- that was one of the rules that the consensus was more lenient on. It was more up to the personal morals of the individual sword spirit to follow this rule. Rules like obeying the master, however, were strict and wouldn’t budge.

“Do you not like Novaakun?”

It was a stupid question, one that Skeppy hadn’t meant to ask. It had sort of just slipped out through his lips without a second thought.

The spirit’s white eyes flickered to him then, surprise and a hint of discomfort present in them. Bad made a noise that sounded like an internal struggle, before his fanged mouth opened to speak.

“It’s complicated. Sword spirits are born within the blade, it’s the first thing we ever get to know. It’s our home, as well as so much more. Sword spirits cannot exit the blade and exist physically on their own- they must have someone to wield them, they must have a master, and even then it’s up to the master to decide whether they get the freedom to physically exist or not.” Bad paused, wondering for a moment if what he was going to say next was worth it. “It’s been a long time since I was allowed out. I’m not good at keeping up with the concept of time, but I was masterless for a good while before you… found me.”

Skeppy frowned. He’d forgotten about that. “I see… have you ever, I don’t know, tried with all of your will to break free from the sword when masterless?”

Bad sighed. “I don’t think that’s possible, master. It’s not like I can try to do so now, anyways. You own me.”

Skeppy nearly choked in disgust. He couldn’t keep this up. “Stop, stop. Just stop, please. Don’t… don't call me a master. Call me Skeppy. And with this whole ‘owning you’ thing… can we just not refer to it as that for now? I just…”

Bad held a look of challenge in his eyes. “Uncomfortable, are you? Uncomfortable knowing that sword spirits are referred to as ‘owned’? This is just how it’s been for my kind since the beginning. But it’s all double-edged. We hate to be owned, but we have to be owned to manifest in this world. That’s just how it has to be.”

Skeppy shook his head with a grimace. “It shouldn’t be like this. Maybe someone can own the sword, but no one can really…  _ own  _ you. Sword spirits, they… they’re people. Living beings. Humans can’t just go around… no, no. It’s not just humans. Angels and demons do this all the same. Everyone does. And it’s so wrong!” He cried out in disgust.

Bad cocked his head, confusion set once again on his face. “You speak of species like you belong to none of them, and you have so much to say in the way of rights for my kind. You still continue to make no sense to me. You told me not to question you, and I’m sorry for disobeying, but I can’t help but wonder still in my head just who and what you are. I don’t… I don’t get you.”

Skeppy sighed, calming down again. “Like you said before. It’s complicated. There’s a reason why I’m going on this journey, a reason why I took you with me, and a reason why I’m being so cryptic about myself. Even if it probably won’t matter soon, I can’t tell anyone about this. It’s something I have to keep to myself.” He puffed out a breath, eyes darkening. “I just don’t know if I’ll have the strength to make the choice I have to make at the end of this journey…”

Bad blinked at him, regarding him carefully. “It sounds like you have a lot on your shoulders.”

Skeppy sighed. “More than anyone can ever know. But at least it will be over by the end of this, for better or for worse.”

The sword spirit said nothing in response, only tilting his head up to look up at the moon and stars. He made a thoughtful noise. “It’s very late. For the past few days, I have noticed that no matter how late at night it is, you don’t sleep much or at all, and yet you’re fine. You can’t be a human and survive a pattern like that.”

Skeppy sighed. “Yeah, you got me there. I’m sure if you just keep doing your detective work you’ll figure out what species I belong to, I’m sure that’ll be fun.”

Bad, surprisingly, shook his head. “No. You told me not to question you. A few days ago I would have thought that was a command, or an order. But looking at you, I think it was a request. I will not do anything, or at least try not to do anything that would make you uncomfortable.”

Skeppy raised an eyebrow. “You would be nice to me like that?”

Bad hovered to a stand and stretched, body glowing with a soothing black light. “You are the first I have met that treats my kind with any sort of respect. It’s only fair I trade back the basic decency.” The spirit continued to fade into a rippling ball of black light. “I’ll return when the sun’s risen again and we’re on our way.”

Skeppy watched with an unreadable expression as the spirit’s light flew back into the hilt of Novaakun and vanished. He sighed, stretching his back, wincing when he felt the blue, protruding crystals clash against each other as they grew bigger and more numerous. But before he could pick up Novaakun and retreat into the tent, Bad’s voice rang out in the air hesitantly.

“Oh, and mas- Skeppy? I.. I hope whatever you’re on this journey for resolves well.”

And then silence, once more. Skeppy felt his jaw clench terribly tight, as he nearly threw himself into the tent to think. His resolve was unstable at best.

If only Bad knew.

* * *

The terrain the two traveled through only got rougher and rougher as they continued on. From the Invaded’s safe plains, to heavily wooded forests, to high mountains, to the shattered savannah they were trekking through now. A week or two had passed since the first proper conversation Skeppy and his sword spirit companion had, and since then the boundaries had broken down a little bit to the point that the two now had casual chats during their travelling. Most of the words exchanged were hesitant and careful, as well as patient in a way. But this wasn’t currently the case.

“Skeppy, you’re being ridiculous. You’ve always made sure to stop for the night and wait out the dark this whole time, and I know you barely sleep, but this is just dangerous! Especially in a terrain like this! We need to stop and set up camp!”

Skeppy scoffed, shaking his head. “No. I don’t have much time to waste anymore, and we’re still farther away from our destination than I would like to be.”

Bad huffed, coming to a stop and grounding himself to the floor for once. “You say all of these things but you still tell me nothing! I know I said I wouldn’t try to figure out what you are but that hasn’t stopped me from noticing other things about you! Look at your back, Skeppy! Novaakun’s sheath lies across it, but it’s not flat across your back and it keeps getting more and more pushed out every day! Something is happening back there! And you keep talking about how this journey will end ‘it’ for better or for worse!”

Skeppy whirled around and glared. “Why do you even care about what I’m doing?! Why do you care about me at all! We aren’t  _ friends,  _ Bad! We aren’t! You’re only here because you have to be, so don’t go around asking these questions as if it actually matters to you! I said I don’t wanna talk about it, my body is my business and you have no right to terrorize me about it!”

“Terrorize you?!” Bad shouted. “I was just curious! And why are you so upset over the fact I’m interested in what’s happening to you? Maybe I do care, what’s so bad about that?”

Skeppy snarled. “No! No you don’t care! You can’t care about a person who keeps you, who owns you willingly, takes your sword and keeps you with them just because they want your blade! That isn’t fair! You didn’t choose to be reduced to what you were!”

Bad stopped, freezing in place. “What… what do you mean, reduced?”

_ Shit.  _ Skeppy swore internally. Of course Bad didn’t know. None of them knew. He knew things he wished he didn’t, things he had promised himself to never talk about, and he’d let it slip somewhat anyways. Oh, how on Earth could he explain this one…?

“Skeppy, what do you  _ mean reduced _ ?” Bad repeated, venomous panic settling into his tone now.

“Bad…” Skeppy started, reaching behind him and drawing Novaakun quickly. “Watch out!”

The next few moments were a blur- suddenly, Skeppy was rushing forward towards and slightly past Bad, throwing an arm out in a ‘get behind me’ motion as he swung the blackstone blade towards a creeper. Bad couldn’t do much else other than let out a surprised yelp when the blow from his blade didn’t quite do the job to finish the monster off, and the explosion sent Skeppy flying back into the sword spirit’s body. Immediately, the two tumbled to the ground, Bad letting out a slight gasp of pain and shock when he felt multiple sharp points of something dig into his front where Skeppy’s back had met him. But just as the feeling had registered, the feeling was gone, because while Bad had been knocked completely flat, Skeppy had kept tumbling, which led him to take a tumble down the side of the medium-sized hill they had stopped walking on.

“Oh shoot- Skeppy!” Bad called out frantically, picking up Novaakun, which had been knocked from Skeppy’s hand, and scrambling to the hill’s edge. He slid down as fast as he could, coming to a stop by his wielder’s injured body. Looking over the injuries, they didn’t seem too terrible, which made it all the more unsettling when Bad noticed just how loud and agonizing Skeppy’s screams of pain were.

“What?! Skeppy, what’s wrong?! Tell me! What’s causing you so much pain?!” The sword spirit asked frantically, completely out of his depth.

Skeppy couldn’t respond back through his screams of pain, he could only squeeze his eyes shut tightly and try to fight back the white-hot paint radiating out from his back. Before Bad could keep asking for a response, his white eyes caught sight of something unusual laying a few feet away in the sickly grass. Bad glided over to it, picking it up gently in his clawed hands, but doing so only raised more questions.

It was a shard of something blue- perhaps a crystal. It looked like it had been broken off of something by sheer force, but there was something about it that made it seem different from a regular chunk of gem. The way it had grown, somewhat flat and bladed, it didn’t look like a normal crystal formation. It also didn’t look like it belonged in this biome at all. Where…?

“Skeppy?” Bad questioned softly, hiding his confusion and panic behind a wall. “Skeppy, I’m going to roll you over onto your stomach, okay? I need to check for more serious injuries. I’m sorry.”

Skeppy was still groaning in immense pain, but the screaming had more or less died down. He cracked an eye open, defiance shining in its brown color as if he were about to attempt to fight Bad away, but the unknown pain immobilized him from doing so.

Bad didn’t really know what he was expecting when he gently flipped his wielder over in the grass, but the sight he was met with certainly wasn’t something he wanted to see. The back of Skeppy’s shirt was practically torn to shreds, with tens more of those crystal shards he’d just found broken off in the dirt protruding from the man’s back. They were all growing in the same strange formation- sharp and bladed, almost familiar in a way Bad couldn’t explain. Another second passed before the spirit’s eyes fell upon the apparent source of Skeppy’s immense pain- there was a sizable hole in a spot of his back’s skin. There was no blood, nor did the hole look deep at all, but the other side of it was blocked by a ragged edge of broken crystal below the surface level.

“I don’t understand.” Bad almost whispered out, pulling his wielder up into a sitting position. “The crystals, from your back… I don’t… It still shouldn’t be causing you this much pain, should it? I don’t understand.”

Skeppy’s breaths were coming out ragged and whiny, as if the pain was slowly fading away the more time passed, but it was still apparently enough to immobilize him for the most part. “Bad…”

Bad shook his head, interrupting him. “Skeppy, please. You can’t hide this anymore. This journey, your back, and what you know about Sword Spirits… these can’t just all be coincidental. Something happened to you that wasn’t fair, and you’re in pain while you know far more than you should. Please, just tell me. Talk to me. I don’t know why you’re so against me considering you a… friend, but I care. This isn’t normal.”

Skeppy took a few more moments to get his breathing in order, before finally responding properly. “...Fine. Whatever. I guess I have to tell you now.” He grumbled out, clearly less than happy by the idea. “Can you do me a favor while my body calms down? Just… set out the torches and create a safe area for now. We’re going to need it, because this is a long story…”

Bad didn’t say anything else- he only nodded, and set off to doing what Skeppy asked of him. While he floated around, setting torches carefully, he made sure to keep an eye on his wielder, who still refused to move at all, most likely in fear of causing the pain to flare back up. His wielder was… strange. Strange and familiar. It didn’t make any sense, but then again, Skeppy hadn’t made sense from the moment they met. But Bad was glad to see that they were possibly making progress now, even if he wasn’t happy about opening up to the spirit.

Was it wrong of Bad to want to properly be friends with someone who still technically owned him, no matter how well he was treated? He’d had wielders in the past, but he’d never wanted to be around them like he does with Skeppy. For the first time in his life, he didn’t mind having a wielder. He needed someone to own his blade if he wanted to physically manifest, but his wielders in the past made him want to stay within his bound blade rather than be free. Skeppy was the opposite, and it still confused him slightly.

“Bad.” Skeppy called quietly, snapping the spirit out of his thoughts. Wordlessly, the spirit glided over to where his wielder sat stiff.

“I just want you to know that I’m sorry.” Skeppy continued as Bad joined him, completely surprising and confusing the other. “I’m sorry, because what I’m going to tell you doesn’t just affect me. It should explain… a lot, but it won’t make you feel any better.”

Bad frowned. “Skeppy…?”

“I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see.” Skeppy said finally, after another few moments of silence. “Something no human was supposed to see, at least. Maybe even the majority of angels and demons weren’t supposed to see what I saw. Or maybe they already know. Either way, I saw something that I shouldn’t have and that’s why I’m here now.”

“I was a normal human once. A normal human who lived with his friends, friends that have no idea what I’ve become now. I’d been hunting for more meat in the forest nearby where I live, the Invaded territory. We set out from there, remember? But yeah, like I said, there is a forest nearby. I was pretty deep in the woods looking for food, and while I was hunting I saw something that didn’t belong. A portal looking thing- do you remember what Nether portals look like? Demons are more likely to walk among the otherworld than angels are. In fact, humans can’t make a portal to the angels’ realm. It’s a one-way type of thing. Only angels can make those portals, and as far as I knew then they never bothered to come here. But they did this time. I had stumbled upon an Aether portal in the middle of nowhere, or so I thought. Because I wasn’t as alone as I thought I was.”

“I hid behind a few tall bushes when a group of three beings, which I later learned were what angels looked like, leading a human forcefully towards the portal. The human was struggling, and screaming, but they wouldn’t let him go, and they… they shoved him through the portal, and they went through after him. And I know, I know in hindsight I never should have given in to my curiosity, but I waited only a few seconds before jumping through the portal after them. And I witnessed the world of the Aether. It’s a beautiful place, Bad. A beautiful, wonderful place, but it’s sour. It’s a farce. It’s a lie, because I followed those angels leading the human to a building on a layer of solid cloud. I watched through a window as they led him into a room, with a diamond blade laid on a table, and I watched them remove the spirit from the human and bind it to that blade against his will. But… one of the angels was quick to wield the newly conscious blade and the human came back out, happy to serve. He didn’t remember anything they did. He had no idea he used to be a human. They…  _ sword spirits used to have a life before they became what they were.” _

“Do you understand now, Bad? You… you were reduced to this. You were reduced to what you are now. You’re an amazing person still, but you had a life before this and the demons took that away from you. But… I don’t think you were a human in your first life, either. Angels and demons hate each other, they hunt each other, kill each other. I think that it’s more likely you were an angel before you were forced to bind to Novaakun. They  _ killed  _ you, the first you, and you have lived all this time not knowing anything that happened to you, and that’s  _ wrong.  _ All sword spirits, all of them, they had lives before they were chained. That’s why I just… you can’t be friends with the people that ruined your soul, your spirit. You can’t be friends with me. It’s wrong. Please.”

Bad sat back, mind fuzzy and going a mile a minute as he stared down at his hands- hands that were pitch back and clawed, matching the blood red horns on his head and void white eyes. How could he have been an angel before, when he looked like this? How could he have ever been anyone else when all he knew was this mind, this body, this spirit? The shock and disbelief was acting as a cushion of sorts, the reality of Skeppy’s words not quite reaching him properly. And yet, at the same time, it wasn’t even that surprising. Demons were, well, demons, such a thing didn’t seem out of the realm of normal for that kind. And even angels had a dark side, everyone seemed to know that. Some things the angels did were only right and moral in their eyes, but dark and horrid to the rest of the world. It made sense that they would power their blades with the prisoners they captured.

But using a human’s spirit to power a blade? Demons and angels had never taken human prisoners like that. So many years had gone by, so many wielders before Skeppy, and none of them ever talked about a human being taken by angels or demons. Angels never interacted to begin with, and demons would only hunt and eat humans if they willingly walked into the Nether realm. This… this didn’t make any sense. And, now that he thought about it, that didn’t explain why Skeppy now had crystals growing from his back like tumors.

“But… but wait. Just… ignoring the fact you just told me what you did, Skeppy, that still doesn’t explain how you went from normal human to walking gem nursery. What happened after you saw that? What did they do to you?”

Skeppy sighed. “The angels… they weren’t happy that they had been seen. If anything, now that I think about it, it was a small group of them and it looked like a sort of shady kind of building. I don’t think what they did was even allowed in the first place amongst their kind. But they had a witness, and there was only one way to fix that. They were going to kill me, I think, but I didn’t just sit there and let them attack me. I bolted back to the portal. They were throwing all sorts of, well, I think magic spells, at me, and just as I was escaping back through the portal to go home, one of those magic bolts hit me. I tumbled through the portal back into the forest, and scrambled to hide myself. The angels didn’t bother to come through after me. The next thing I knew, the portal imploded on itself and was gone- they had closed it on their end. Once the threat was gone, I only then realized the pain and malice that was coursing through my body. My skin was glowing blue. I knew I had to have been cursed, or something. The blue glow went away before I got home, but I knew it wasn’t over.”

“I spent the next month doing research, trying to find everything I could about how to remove a curse, and I found a place I had to go. I found you- well, I found Novaakun- in my searching, and I decided to take you with me. Only a week before I left, the crystals started growing out of my back, and they’ve only been getting worse. I don’t know what will happen to me if I just leave this curse to run its course, but I don’t want to find out. I need to get to my destination before that happens.”

And yet, through all of the haze and whirlwind of his thoughts, Bad’s mind picked up on something from Skeppy’s story- there were multiple things that didn’t make sense. But that warning bell was quickly buried under the panic of Skeppy’s situation, and the reality of his life came crashing down. The next thing he knew, his hands were covering the gasp that had escaped from his mouth, and his eyes were hot and blurry with large tears.

“I’m sorry.” Skeppy said, looking at his companion with a pained expression. “I can’t… I can’t imagine what you must be feeling like right now. I hid the truth from you for weeks, and you deserved to know. But I was scared to hurt you like that.”

Those words and Skeppy’s sad expression were the last thing Bad remembered, before he found himself on his feet and running off from his wielder into the wild. Skeppy hadn’t even called after him, he just got up and left and no one stopped him. But he couldn’t… he couldn’t be there right now. He felt like there was evil crawling under his skin, and he had to get away. He had to be alone. Bad couldn’t even bring himself to use the natural ability of a sword spirit to float- he didn’t want to be what he was right now. He didn’t want to be. For a good while, all he could hear were his feet pounding against the ground as he ran without end. At least, until he collapsed onto his knees at the base of a large, shattered mountain.

Bad found himself staring at his hands again, through his heavy tears. They were shaking. His whole body was shaking, really. He was alone out here, away from his blade, away from his wielder, and for the first time being so far from what made him what he was was almost freeing. Had he really been someone else before this? Even though Skeppy had told him directly of his fate, of all of their fates, he couldn’t quite believe it. He knew nothing else other than being Bad, a sword spirit bound to a blackstone blade.

What had he been like before? What had his first life, his real life, been like? What kind of person had he been before, only to have been taken away? Bad had looked like a demon for as long as this life had existed. All of that, only to learn that he’d once been an angel with a normal life? The complete opposite type of person he was now?

And Skeppy… Skeppy had known this the whole time, the entire time they had been traveling together and he hadn’t told the truth immediately? Why would he do that?! If Skeppy really was an advocate for his kind and what freedoms they deserved, why would he hide the truth like that? Bad deserved the freedom to know, to decide what he wanted to hear, and he’d acted from him in that way!

“Argh!” Bad wailed out, hands clutching the sides of his head as he folded onto himself. All of these thoughts, all of these problems, he could barely stay afloat or just focus on one of them. Why was he blaming Skeppy for this? Why did he feel so neutral to the fact his entire being thus far was tainted and forced?

He remembered nothing of his past life. How could he be upset over something he knew nothing of? He had nothing to mourn. But he felt so, so guilty somehow, guilty that he couldn’t remember anything of who he originally was. As far as he could tell, there wasn’t anything he’d really lost. There was nothing he could really do about it, was there? Bad could only really speculate about his first life now that he knew his life now wasn’t the original. That… that wasn’t Skeppy’s fault. Skeppy hadn’t been the one to tear out his spirit from his long gone body and bind it to Novaakun for the rest of his existence. Skeppy kept telling himself he and Bad couldn’t be friends under the guise of “he couldn’t be friends with the people who took his life away”, but Skeppy had never done anything to him. Skeppy had treated him so much better than any wielder he had belonged to in the past. Skeppy…

Skeppy was still hurt and vulnerable out in the savannah. Alone. Alone with Novaakun, but still hurt and still alone. He’d left his wielder alone. His wielder could be attacked and killed and Bad would be forced back into his blade for however long. Skeppy  _ was his wielder and friend and he’d left him. _

“Skeppy!” Bad shouted, scrubbing his tears away quickly and pulling himself to his feet again. He started sprinting back the way he came, worried about what could have possibly happened to the other man. Bad was well aware his thought process at the moment wasn’t making much sense, nor was most of it grounded in reality, but the safety of his friend was the one thought he could properly focus on. There would be so much time for him to overthink later, he just had to get back to his blade and his wielder.

But after a few more minutes of running, Bad would find out that he had been worried for nothing. His mad dash came to a stop in front of the torched-up area, his white eyes falling upon the haphazardly pitched tent in the middle of the area. Bad wasn’t sure about how long he’d been gone, having run off like an idiot, but the moon was well past its highest point in the sky and it only continued to get lower and lower. Daylight would return soon enough. Skeppy was safe. Bad took a breather for the first time that night, adrenaline lowering slowly as he slumped down to sit almost guard outside the tent. He had time now to think more, until the sun came up.

If Bad had opted to peek inside the tent, he would’ve seen Skeppy curled up on the ground, fitfully sleeping, cradling Novaakun in its sheath tightly to his chest.

* * *

  
  


They never really talked about it after that night. Skeppy had woken up in the early morning rays, exited his tent, gave Bad a look of sorrowful acknowledgement, and then said nothing. He took down the tent quickly, equipped Novaakun onto his back carefully again, and made a motion with his head to tell Bad to follow as he set off. And that was it. Nothing was said about the story, or the revelation. Another week passed with no conversation about that night. But that didn’t mean Bad forgot about it.

Bad had a lot of time to process and think about what Skeppy had told him. He’d come to his own conclusions on some things, like how he would go about knowing he had lost his original life, but there was still one thing that he couldn’t figure out. Skeppy’s story had detail, enough detail to make it seem one-hundred percent real, except that was impossible. Bad didn’t doubt that he’d encountered angels, and that he’d very clearly seen something that he shouldn’t have, but there were a few parts of his story that didn’t make any sense and were big red flags to hint to Bad that he had lied.

For one, the setting. Skeppy had told the spirit he had been deep in the forest near his home, hunting, and he had come across an Aether portal just casually with angels hauling another human like cargo. Skeppy said he had been yelling and struggling. How had no one heard him? The angels had to have taken him from somewhere, somewhere with civilization, and no one thought to intervene? Sure, angels could hide their angelic features, just like demons could with their demonic features, but they couldn’t turn invisible. Someone would have seen, and at least tried to help, wouldn’t they? Maybe they had taken the human when he was alone, but it still seemed odd.

And another thing- why would the angels have left the portal open for Skeppy to follow through? They had gotten their target, of sorts, there would have been nothing else they would’ve needed to keep the portal open for. So why had it been left open? Why had Skeppy been able to travel to the Aether after them? And along with that, an angel throwing curses at Skeppy? Angels dabbled in magic all the time, but no one had ever heard of angels using curses on other beings, much less other angels. Sure, these angels had stolen a human to force into a bound blade, which was pretty evil to begin with, but those angels knowing curses too? It just didn’t feel right. Maybe they had been demons wearing illusions? But then again, how could they have opened an Aether portal?

The last thing that tipped Bad off was the small description of the sword that had been used. Skeppy had said it was a  _ diamond  _ blade. Diamond, a type of gem, a precious gem that was blue, just like the crystals that seemed to be growing out of Skeppy’s back due to a ‘curse’. Crystals that were growing from his back in a shape of bladed, flat facets, almost like the blade of a  _ sword. _

Skeppy had been a human. Had. But after that incident, he refused to refer to himself as a human anymore. So could he be…?

“We’re here.” Skeppy said, breaking the spirit out of his thoughts.

The biome they were in was a spruce forest, with podzol patches everywhere. In front of the two stood a wide and deep cave opening, and the unusual thing was that the cave’s mouth was covered with dripstone inside and out. It definitely didn’t look like it belonged, but the dripstone made it look like swords- something Bad realized after a moment of contemplation.

“Skeppy?” Bad asked. “What is this place?”

“The home of the original sword spirit.” Skeppy revealed without hesitation, taking a step forward. “That bastard is still alive, and this is where he lives. As much as I hate him, for all of the backwards rules he made, he’s my last chance of reversing my curse.”

“Language…” Bad mumbled, but then stopped. “The original sword spirit? But… why would he be able to do anything? You were cursed by the angels, what does he have to do with all of this?”  _ There’s no way… there’s no way I was right… _

Skeppy seemed a bit nervous as these questions hung in the air. “It doesn’t matter.” He deflected. “I don’t want to waste anymore time. The curse only keeps getting worse and worse, I won’t even have the strength to move soon. Come on. We’re going in.”

Bad set his shoulders with a sigh, not willing to push his friend further as they entered together. He noticed that over the span of the whole journey, Bad had migrated from trailing behind his wielder to standing side by side with his friend. Yes, his friend. Skeppy was his friend, no matter how many times the other tried to tell him they couldn’t morally be friends. They were friends.

The cave was larger than it looked from the outside- it was deep, so much so that the light of the sunset outside was only a faint dot. However, the cave at this point was lit up by lanterns hanging symmetrically off the dripstone from the ceiling, and there was a sword stuck deep into the stone in the middle of the deepest part. The blade was grand and beautiful- a mixture of netherbrick and endstone. A balance that represented both realms beyond the overworld. As Bad and Skeppy were admiring the craft and design of the blade, a golden light began to spill from its iron hilt, and a spirit emerged all on its own. The original sword spirit.

“My my, now isn’t this an unusual sight!” The spirit crooned almost condescendingly. “What business does someone like you have with me here? You already have a sword with a bound spirit, surely you aren’t here to claim my blade, are you?”

Skeppy growled. “As if I would willingly choose to try and own yet another living thing.” He snapped back. “You’re the original sword spirit. Your power is beyond anything else known. I need your help to remove a curse. Someone as powerful as you should be able to do it.”

The spirit raised an eyebrow in interest. “Oh? A curse, is it? Had a bad run in with a demon, did you? Not sure why you chose to come all this way to find me, but I’ll see what I can do then. I’m guessing you didn’t get away unscathed from stealing that blackstone blade from it’s previous owner.”

Skeppy growled again, a low and dark sound. “I didn’t steal Novaakun or Bad from anyone. And I’m not his owner. I don’t own him.”

“Yeah.” Bad spoke up in agreement. “And it wasn’t demons that cursed him. He told me that it had been the angels.”

Both the sword spirit and Skeppy froze at Bad’s words. The spirit turned back to Skeppy, giving him an accusatory look. “Is that what you told him?” The spirit asked, whipping around the man suddenly to lift the back of his shirt, exposing the crystals sprouting out- even worse than before. “You told him this was a curse, was it? Is that what you believe? This is not a curse. This is not something I can cure in you that is without sacrifice.”

Skeppy paused. “No. No you… you have to be able to. I can’t. I can’t do what you’re insinuating, please, just…”

“I don’t understand.” Bad cut in, worried about the panicked tone that Skeppy was talking in now. “It’s… not a curse? What is it? What’s happened to him?”

“Bad, please-” Skeppy started, before suddenly gasping sharply and falling to his knees.

“Skeppy?!” Bad shouted, fully panicked now. “What’s happening to him?!”   
  


“What’s happening is that the balance of a sword spirit is finally righting itself.” The sword spirit spoke cryptically. “Or, in other words, you’ve been owned by a sword spirit this entire time and you just didn’t know it, because he lied to you. But it doesn’t matter. His blade’s finally taking over as the dominant physical manifestation.”

Skeppy screamed as all of the tiny crystals from his back suddenly retracted back under his skin, and he fell onto his back as a single, large bladed crystal started to sprout from his chest through his shirt. Bad yelped, falling to his knees and taking Skeppy’s head into his lap helplessly. “Why are you just standing there?! Help him!”

“I can’t.” The sword spirit replied plainly. “He won’t let me. I may be powerful, but to reverse a process like that I need a power boost. I need a bound blade to consume. That’s the reason he brought you along with him originally, but he doesn’t have the resolve to do that anymore. He’d rather stay like this than let you die.”

Bad flinched like he’d been burned. Skeppy had originally planned to kill him to save himself?

“I’m sorry, Bad…” Skeppy wheezed out with a self-deprecating grin. “I started caring about you too much to go through with that horrible act. I tried so hard to tell myself we weren’t friends. You deserve better than me…”

Bad felt tears pooling in his eyes as he helplessly watched the crystal- now known to him as a blade- continued to sprout from his chest. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”

“What, and tell you a sword spirit was owning another sword spirit? Isn’t that just crazy…”

The original sword spirit watched them carefully, sighing. “I’ve lived a very long life. I had a rule that humans were never to be used for bound blades, mainly because I had tried it myself. Tried binding a human’s spirit to a blade, I mean. I made so many horrible choices in the first few hundred years of my existence. Binding a human to a blade never goes the correct way. Something about the human spirit is different to angels and demons- more determined, more stubborn, I would guess. It overpowers the main aspects of the process. The human’s memory will remain, as well as their physical form for a good while. But over time, this always happens. The sword overtakes the physical form eventually. And the human turned sword spirit has to live like that, knowing who they use to be instead of being blissfully unaware. That’s the future of your wielder, blackstone blade.”

Skeppy raised an arm up, grabbing onto Bad’s arm as firmly as he could. “Bad, I don’t want to go out with it still being that I ‘own’ you. Even if you know the truth now. No being should own another being. I just want you to be free now.”

Bad’s lip quivered. “Skeppy you know it doesn’t work like that! We need owners to physically manifest! If you renounce your ownership of me like this then I’ll be returned to Novaakun just like you’ll be in a moment!”

Skeppy sighed. “But…”

“You guys aren’t very bright, are you?” The sword spirit interrupted, looking complete unamused at the dramatics. “Why are you two acting like you have to say goodbye? The real solution is staring you right in the face. If a sword spirit could own another sword spirit, why not just own each other?”

Bad and Skeppy stopped, blinking dumbly at the spirit who just kept watching them. “What?”

“Seriously?” The spirit groaned, pinching the bridge of its nose. “Did you guys just forget the first thing about how sword spirits work? We need to be owned to manifest. Did you two just brush over the fact I am able to manifest without another here to wield my blade? I own myself. I don’t think the ‘owning oneself’ thing will work for you two, since you two were made with the instinct to be owned by someone else. So just own each other. Problem solved. That’s the easiest solution here. Though your idiot friend here will have to stay a sword spirit instead of being returned to being human. It’s up to him.”

Bad and Skeppy shared a look, Bad’s white eyes full of pleading. Skeppy’s shoulders sagged. “I’m gonna stay a sword spirit either way. I’m not going to sacrifice you, Bad. The past month or so traveling with you has been more fun than I thought it was going to be. And… I know I’ve lied to you a lot, lied this whole time, and I can’t imagine how you could still trust me after this. It’s up to you. I won’t renounce my ownership of you, but it’s your choice to claim ownership of me once I’m reduced to Ahdaiion- my blade. I had your life in my hands for this past month, I’m putting mine in yours now.”

“Dramatic…” The original sword spirit mumbled, rolling his eyes. “Well, if that’s how it’s going to go, then I don’t need to sit here watching this anymore. You two can figure out if you want to be together for, forever or something, I don’t know. Get a room or something.”

Bad watched with an exasperated look as the spirit exploded into golden light again, and returned back into the hilt of the grounded sword. He’d never expected the original of his kind to be so… like that. But Skeppy’s body was glowing now, glowing a bright blue, as his body started to fade out and the true form of the diamond blade started to solidify. Skeppy gave him a smile.

“Maybe I’ll see you in a moment?”

Skeppy’s body vanished entirely then, as Ahdaiion clattered to the ground in front of the blackstone blade. Novaakun lay next to it. Two blades, side by side. Despite the extreme difference in material and affinity, they looked like they belonged together. Bad smiled.

“As if I would ever just leave you like that now, Skeppy.”

Bad picked up the diamond blade gently, holding it firmly as he watched the light of the lanterns reflect off of its faceted sides. He’d have to get a sheath for Ahdaiion, so he could carry it everywhere with him like Skeppy had done with Novaakun.

“You belong to me, as I belong to you.”

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> Haha idiot best friends go brr
> 
> Did this story even make any sense? Probably not, L  
> But this isn't the only thing I'll be writing for this AU. I just like this AU too much now to only write one thing for it. I hope y'all like it too :>
> 
> Anyways. Let me know what you thought? -S


End file.
